Lindsay Lohan to be charged with grand theft over necklace

Prosecutors said on Tuesday they plan to charge Lindsay Lohan with felony grand theft of a $2,500 necklace reported stolen from a jewellery store last month — the most serious count the actress has faced in more than three years of trouble with the law.

District Attorney’s spokeswoman Jane Robison said the charge will be filed Wednesday. Lohan, 24, is due in court for an arraignment on Wednesday afternoon.

Los Angeles police said Feb. 2 that Lohan was under investigation for taking a necklace from a Venice store later identified as Kamofie and Co. Detectives obtained a search warrant to try to retrieve the item from Lohan’s home, but it was turned in to a police station before any search was made.

Police said they had no update on the case Tuesday and did not say whether the actress had made arrangements to turn herself in at court or at a police station.

Robison said bail would be decided by a judge.

A phone message to Lohan’s attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, was not immediately returned. Holley has previously denied any wrongdoing by Lohan.

“We vehemently deny these allegations and, if charges are filed, we will fight them in court, not in the press,” Holley said in a statement released Saturday.

Arrested twice in 2007, Lohan was charged with drunken driving and drug possession, but both were misdemeanors.

The “Mean Girls” star has been jailed three times in that case, but has been granted a quick release due to jail overcrowding and a requirement that bail be set on misdemeanor cases.
Lohan remains on probation for drunken driving, and a judge has threatened to throw her in jail if she runs into trouble again.

Prosecutors in Riverside County have been considering whether to press charges against Lohan for a December altercation with a worker from the Betty Ford Center, where she was being treated.

The treatment, her fifth rehab session, came after she admitted failing a drug test shortly after being granted early release from another treatment program.

Lohan’s court struggles and treatment have taken a serious toll on the former Disney star’s career. Her role as porn star Linda Lovelace in a biopic was recast last year while Lohan was at Betty Ford and no replacement projects have been announced.

She had been due in court on Feb. 25 for a probation status hearing and a judge had said he would be willing to loosen the terms of her probation if she remained out of trouble.